snake room info

Actually you can use R-15 in your walls. Most builders use R-13 but the builder I work for ( I am a field super./const mgr ) we use R-15 in all our 2x4 walls. It really helps hold in the heat. You can use the foam on all your corners and around any door or window headers/jacks to do what is referred to as an air stop. Some call it chinking. They also make a caulking for that purpose.

If you have trusses where you can create a small attic space then a loose blown in insulation R-38 is prefect ( actually under the new IRC building codes all houses have gone to R-38 in attics or the type.)

I, like green man, building is my business. Any help you need just let me know.

The more you insulate and air stop the less heating you will have to worry about and will save you $$ in the long run.

Can't wait to see some pictures.

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Originally Posted by jotay

Actually you can use R-15 in your walls. Most builders use R-13 but the builder I work for ( I am a field super./const mgr ) we use R-15 in all our 2x4 walls. It really helps hold in the heat. You can use the foam on all your corners and around any door or window headers/jacks to do what is referred to as an air stop. Some call it chinking. They also make a caulking for that purpose.

If you have trusses where you can create a small attic space then a loose blown in insulation R-38 is prefect ( actually under the new IRC building codes all houses have gone to R-38 in attics or the type.)

I, like green man, building is my business. Any help you need just let me know.

The more you insulate and air stop the less heating you will have to worry about and will save you $$ in the long run.

Can't wait to see some pictures.

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I can't wait to get started. I have to worry about school right now but I will definitely PM both of you when I am ready.

Besides heating, I would also be concerned with how you plan to keep temps down in the warmer months. You can do this with ventilation or AC. You will need to plan this in before you build. Ventilation/cooling needs to be designed so it works! Most systems are not designed properly. (I design greenhouses for a living.) I use a lot of ventilation on my rat barn in the heat of the summer here in NJ, without ventilation I have seen temps of 140 degrees plus in that barn. Also, in August when most other rodent breeders production goes down, I see no decline in my production. I keep my reptiles in my house, in a reptile room, because it would cost a small fortune to AC a reptile barn in our heat and I just don’t like that much air passing over my reps if I used mechanical ventilation.



I have the walls of the rat barn insulated with R-13 and a ½” foam board. I also did the same on the ceiling and I filled the floor with R-13 and then put the barn on top of 2” foam board with ½” plywood under that to keep rodents out. I know this is overkill, but in the winter, with all my rats in there I only have to heat a few hours at night with electric baseboard heat.

I started today on this project. All I did was hit all the corners with the great stuff foam. I did all the inside corners and even did the outside ones too even though it may be overkill. I wanted to make sure I had all the corners sealed off. Pics to come tonight of what I am working with.

Cool, can't wait to see them!